‘I haven’t visited Liverpool since I was a child.’ They nodded at each other and he smiled. She realised she was trembling. ‘We’d better hurry. Follow me – the path is narrow. Is that case absolutely necessary?’

‘Four days ago, you say?’

The man with the hint of a Scottish accent nodded. He’d deftly ignored more than one invitation to give his full name and say exactly who he worked for, and was now clearly irritated at having to answer the same question yet again.

From the top pocket of his dinner jacket, the Chief Constable, the man who’d asked the question, removed a handkerchief so long he gave the impression of a magician performing a trick. He wiped his face and then ran the handkerchief under his collar, causing his bow tie to become crooked.

‘Well I’d have thought that if he came ashore four days ago, he’d be in your neck of the woods by now.’ He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his large stomach, his smug look indicating the answer was an obvious one.

‘And where would that be?’ The Scottish accent was a bit more pronounced now.

‘Where would what be?’

‘My neck of the woods, as you put it. You seem to know where it is.’

The Chief Constable hesitated. It was apparent the other man outranked him in more ways than one, even though he knew next to nothing about him. It was Scotland Yard’s fault: they’d insisted he meet him, even ordering him to interrupt an important Masonic Lodge dinner to do so. You need to see him as a matter of urgency. Just don’t pry too much. Answer his questions rather than ask too many of your own. That’s how they work.

‘A figure of speech, that’s all. Obviously, we’ll do all we can to help, but in my experience – going back very many years, I can assure you – criminals do not hang around the scene of their crimes.’

‘That may well be the case with house burglars and the like, Chief Constable. In this case, no crime has been committed per se – at least not in the sense you deal with on a day-to-day basis.’

‘Even so, I doubt he’d have stayed in the area for long. I’d be most surprised if he was even still in Lincolnshire. Assuming he actually came ashore, of course; we can’t even be certain of that. There are no witnesses, after all, and the shore patrol saw nothing—’

‘No, Chief Constable. The shore patrol saw no one, but they didn’t see nothing, as you put it. They found the barbed wire had been cut on the Town Beach, just north of Mablethorpe. Plus the contact in London received the correct coded message to say he’d arrived.’